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It all marked the opening of pre-season which quickly turned into the Asia Tour for 24 members of the squad. The line-up for the games in Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan is a mix of key veterans and youngsters hoping to make an impact. There were a few noticeable absentees. Thomas Vermaelen picked up a back injury and was left behind, as was Gervinho due to sickness.

The stop in the world's fourth most populous country culminates with a friendly against the Indonesian Dream Team on Sunday. After that, the squad moves on to Vietnam where they will be the first ever Premier League team to visit that country.Our guys take on the Vietnam team on Wednesday July 17. Be sure to stay tuned to Arsenal.com for all of the tour updates.

Back at the home base, plenty has been going over the past several weeks. Starting from the top, Arsenal have a new chairman after the resignation of Peter Hill-Wood. The former chairman had been at the helm since 1982 and a director for 51 years. He was the third member of the Hill-Wood family to serve in that role. Sir Chips Keswick, who will now take a seat in the really big five-legged chair, is a lifelong fan and has been a director since 2005.

In the other direction, Arsenal officially announced the signing of up-and-coming French striker Yaya Sanogo. He won’t meet up with his new teammates until after the tour as he is currently on international duty for U20 World Cup in Turkey. The 20-yer-old's early career has been plagued by injuries, but in his last season at Auxerre, he managed 10 goals in just 13 appearances. He has been given the No. 22 shirt.

Finally, the 2013/14 fixture list was also released, and Arsenal were handed an opening day home match against Aston Villa on Saturday August 17. Key dates to focus on (as of now anyway… we know how these things can change) the first leg of Champions League Playoff will be held on either August 20 or 21 with the second leg one week later. Domestically, the big games kick off early with the home version of the north London derby on Sunday September 1. March looks to be the toughest month on paper with trips up the Seven Sisters Road and to Chelsea, before a home clash against Manchester City.

Looking ahead, Arsenal have the aforementioned games in Indonesia and Vietnam plus two games in Japan the following week. After that, it's a return to London for Emirates Cup before a final warm-up match against Man City in Helsinki.

Get ready, Gooners -- the season will be here before you know it!

Copyright 2015 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the sourceKevin Mooney12 Jul 2013

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